Projected Area of a Frame

[gliebig]

I normally would have used Fusion 360 for this project, but I learned about the frame generator in Inventor and it works much better for my application. I'm donating this design work for a non-profit that puts on a light show during the holidays to collect food for the local food bank and this year we are adding "Steeples" for one of the areas. I've successfully created the framework in 3 sections using sub assemblies. The base is an equilateral triangle at 8' per side. The base is about 10' tall with chevron support and lateral bracing. The middle Tier is pinned on top of the base and it's 2/3 the height of the base and a 1'. The steeple section is pinned to the middle tier and it's about 14 feet taller and 1' narrower than the middle tier with a 5 degree taper to the top. So the overall assembled height is about 30'.  Since this will be outside, I need to calculate the wind loading to ensure this won't tip over. Being a triangular shape, there is no good plane to use to get a cross section.

The iProperties don't show a projected area. Is there any way to calculate this projected area?

[SharkDesign]

Can you give a screenshot to show what you trying to achieve? That's a really long description.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I guess you are talking about the silhouette, right? You can derive the assembly as a part. Then create a 3D Sketch -> Silhouette Curve -> pick a direction. The curve gives you the outline of the part in the given direction. You may connect the curve segments in 3D and then project them to a 2D Sketch. In 2D Sketch, go to Inspect tab -> Region Properties to find the area.

Many thanks!